I have been meaning to put up my each of my Machine Robo since putting up a bulk post about them a couple of years ago. This is the MachineRobo MR-01 Bike Robo, the robot who became Cy-Kill in Tonka’s Challenge of the Gobots in 1983. The cartoon was not as compelling as the story of the Transformers. For me the story was pretty much crap. Which is sad, because the 3 inch robots in this line were superior to any of the small robots in the early Transformers line. It would have been nice to see another robot cartoon that gave the Transformers a run for its money in the eighties. I really wanted to like the cartoon, but it was unwatchable for me. Which is odd, because I was able to watch a lot of the crap Hanna Barbera put out. And I loved it. There also was an anime in Japan, Machine Robo Revenge of Cronos came out several years later 1988-1989 and showed the robots as human piloted mecha. I watched a little and it reminded me a bit of the Getta Robo anime.
These originally came out in 1982 in Japan as part of Popy’s Machine Robo line. Europe had them as Robo Machine and Australia had Machine Men. It’s a great concept. Matchbox sized vehicles that transform into robots.
Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Japan Robot
I absolutely love the packaging for this toyline. Small boxes, robots in small Styrofoam cases, with tiny accessories, stickers, a catalog of other robots in the line, and a comic with instructions to transform the robot. I just picked this up in December. The Bike Robo tends to be a more expensive piece. At least more than I would like to pay. This may be due to being the primary villain in the Gobots cartoon. The transformation from robot to motorcycle is pretty solid. The Bike Robo looks pretty good as a robot or a motorcycle. This is one of the nicer robots in the line. The design and color scheme work very well. I think I actually had this one in the 1980’s but I traded it away to a friend.
Machine Robo MR-01 Bike Robo(バイクロボ) by Popy in Japan 1982 aka Cy-Kill in Tonka’s Challenge of the GoBots
Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Japan Robot
Machine Robo MR-01 Stickers
Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Instruction Manual
Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Instruction Manual
Machine Robo MachineRobo MR-01 Cy-Kill 1982 Popy Japan Robot
Machine Robo Series Catalog 1983 Popy/Bandai Japan Robot MR 600 toyline
The catalogs are one of my favorite parts of the toys. I love getting these and checking out the other robots Bandai put out. I have used them to figure out other robots to pick up or just check out other robots that never made it to the US.
Machine Robo Series Catalog 1983 Popy/Bandai Japan Robot MR 600 line
Motorcycle form Machine Robo(マシンロボ) MR-01 Bike Robo(バイクロボ) made in 1982 by Popy/Bandai in Japan Robot
You must be logged in to post a comment.